This depends on the book (or perhaps the publisher). For example, I just bought the Illuminatus Trilogy in one cheap paperback, and it’s got a terrible typefac

This depends on the book (or perhaps the publisher). For example, I just bought the Illuminatus Trilogy in one cheap paperback, and it’s got a terrible typeface, it looks like a smeared typewriter. But all other books I’ve bought the past couple months (mix of paperbacks and hardcovers) have had clear typefaces. In fact I never noticed typefaces consciously until seeing this book which takes a noticeable amount of effort to read the fonts.